Trade war ‘not healthy’ for any industry, says Saudi Aramco CEO

Escalating trade tensions between the United States and its main trading partners are not healthy for any industry, according to a senior Saudi Aramco executive.

"Trade war is not healthy for any industry," Saudi Aramco’s President and CEO Amin Nasser said at the 13th annual Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association Forum (GPCA) in Dubai on Tuesday.

His comments come after US President Donald Trump revived his tariff threats on China ahead of this week's G20 Summit.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump said he expects to go ahead with raising tariffs on some $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent on January 1, including a 10 percent tariff on Apple iPhone handsets imported from China.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Al Saleh, business director for ethylene glycol at Kuwaiti producer EQUATE told ICIS, a market intelligence provider, that “any major disruption… will obviously impact demand and the [chemicals industry] has to be very careful.”

According to American Chemistry Council, the US chemical industry had a $33 billion trade surplus with the rest of the world last year and the surplus is slated to reach $71 billion by 2023.